Three Dinners

Soviet Era Building

Big dose of nostalgia, and of food. We stopped by the apartment building where we lived while volunteering in 2008 (see photo). It is a classic low budget basic Soviet block building built in the 1950's for the working poor; substandard in every way. It was just repainted for the first time and looks significantly better now. We befriended a few neighbors at that time in spite of the fact that they spoke absolutely no English, nor did we speak any Hungarian. Seriously, not a word in common. Pantomime and hand signals were how we communicated. None-the-less, we developed strong friendships.

Arrangements were made for us to visit these former neighbors. The first neighbor had prepared a full dinner, complete with home made salads, meats, breads, deserts, and a shot of Unicum (national drink of Hungary, bitter herbal digestive liqueur). Think of the way grandma cooked back in the day. Then we visited the second neighbor, same thing. Again for the third neighbor. Three dinners in a row. And these "grandmas" associated eating with the show of affection, meaning you had to eat...and eat...and eat. Hard to describe this wonderful slice of genuine affection and culture.